BAND!
by Lost in another daydream
Summary: What band is like at my school. I feel I am very lucky to be part of something this... crazy!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Alright. This year was my first year in marching band and I know my band was really random. So I decided to put up some band geekisms. I know there are a lot of them on the site, but I think these are going to be funny!**

**Band…**

It's long bus rides.

It's silly clap games that are the same rhythm as the cadence.

It's raves on the bus late at night.

It's people getting mad at you that there's a blinding flashing blue light in their eyes while they are trying to sleep.

It's purposely trying to annoy them just to get the band director angry.

It's forgetting to bring your drill sheets to practice and getting the evil eye from your section leader.

It's trying to see if you can fit in a sousaphone.

It's discovering that you can.

It's trying to occupy your band director on something else than practice.

It's him knowing and saying, "Nice try."

It's the trumpets having competitions on who can be the most obnoxious with their pitch.

It's the 4 mellophones discovering that they can fit into their section leader's truck with horns that only seats 3 people.

It's stopping at Walmart for a pit stop while on the way to a competition and scaring the register people by your antics.

It's running like your crazy around Walmart trying to buy all the sugar you can so you can rave that night without getting tired.

It's the "Banana" stretch.

It's your friend being obsessed with glow sticks.

It's her getting you to be obsessed with glow sticks as well and jumping around singing, "Glow sticks, glow sticks!!"

It's you and your guy friend making a really complex handshake and not being able to remember how to do it 3 seconds later.

It's stealing the bus sign up sheets and hiding it under your shirts.

It's cold football nights spent making faces at the other band.

It's finding that on said cold football nights, you can take out your mouthpiece and blow fast air through it and seeing the air become blue.

It's being fascinated all night by that new fact.

It's all the trumpets blowing the air through their mouthpieces at you and getting spit all over you.

It's trying to explain to the youngest trumpet player the physics of marching band.

It's him just saying whatever and walking off to bother the drum major.

It's practices where car horns go off and you can't hear what the band director is saying and completely messing the set up.

It's the drum major pretending to blow the car up with a 44 Magnum.

It's making up songs about chapstick to pass the time.

It's getting made fun of for having so many band T-shirts.

It's getting called a band geek and saying that they have it wrong and it's band nerd only to have them call you that and saying it's really band geek just to confuse them.

It's your section leader being paranoid about putting your mellos on the asphalt and having to do push-ups while balancing the mellophone on your hands. (no really, my section leader is paranoid about this.)

It's the props almost falling on you during one of your sets, and being paranoid to step near another prop for fear it would crush you…again.

It's having sectionals and not doing anything except talk about random things.

It's the assistant band director walk past the hallway where you're having sectionals and you instantly stand up and pretend you were practicing all along.

It's the band director getting an allergic reaction and still being able to yell across the room for the percussionists to stop playing.

It's your section naming your mellos names that all belong to the same country. (this year it was German. I think because I named mine Stalin  as a joke…)

It's plumes with feathers that look like they are going to fly.

It's flutes being the first ones to pass out during band camp.

It's getting stung by a bee on the last day of band camp and not being able to play for the rest of the morning. (not that I was complaining…)

It's band moms throwing freezing wet towels over the fence during band camp and fighting over who gets them first.

It's battles between the brass and woodwinds on who is more important.

Obviously, the brass has the advantage on that one.

It's the Mellophones trying to play their horns upside down.

It's said Mellophones trying to read their music upside down as well but not getting as much luck.

It's days of band camp with only 10 hours of sleep for the whole week.

It's the "lazy" set

It's being out of step and getting yelled at but not really caring until you do it again.

It's trying to play a mellophone with a trumpet mouthpiece and it working.

It's getting mad at the football players at football games that they're scuffing up OUR field.

It's taking your rage out on an innocent freshman.

It's emptying your spit through your mouthpiece and into your mouth.

It's having to march on a muddy field and then falling on said muddy field and denting your horn.

It's moldy gloves.

It's gloves that you forgot were in your locker that your too afraid to touch so you make the sax player dispose of them for you.

It's having your uniform smell so bad, it could get up and walk by itself.

It's having sectionals and going around to other sections and making fun of them because they have to play.

It's then having to have sectionals with the section that you were making faces at.

It's rainy practices.

It's sunny practices.

It's practices that you just don't even want to attend but you have to since your brother is band president.

It's having to wake up earlier than usual because said brother has to be at the school for a leadership meeting.

It's trying to talk to your friends about silly band inside jokes, and them not getting it at all since they aren't in marching band.

It's the marching band.

Enough said?


	2. Chapter 2

**Yes!! I have found some more marching band things. Yeah!! Also, once more some of these are inside jokes.**

Band…

It's light saber battles with trombone slides.

It's the ever popular trombone huddle right before a competition.

It's the singing the song, "WE GOT TROPHIES, WE GOT TROPHIES!" right after you got first place at a competition were there are whole lot better bands in your class.

It's saying," There was this one time during band camp…" to your friends just to annoy them.

It's playing the traditional Apples to Apples game right before packing up to leave for a competition.

It's being so hyped up on sugar during the band party that you earn the nickname "Rabid squirrel".

It's inter-band dating.

It's loving your section like a pet monkey.

It's practices were the football team thinks they can practice on the field, and you so quaintly tell them they can't by blowing in their ear with your horn.

It's lots and LOTS of Gatorade and Powerade.

It's having so many people pass out during band camp that there is an ambulance that every hour just comes to your school to see if anyone else fainted.

It's having your best guy friend try to dance while at set.

It's trying to make up a whole new language during breaks to use when at set.

It's being completely off step for the entire performance, but no one noticing.

It's having the section glove that's passed around throughout the section during cold football games to try and make your hands unglue from your horn.

It's just being in the band room for no reason at all.

It's knowing the way to the band room from the front of the building blindfolded.

It's having many "intelligent" talks with your band director.

It's memorizing all your music even before band camp and laughing at the rookies who can't even memorize a measure.

It's annoying guard girls that run around with glitter trying to get it on your instrument.

It's clarinets that squeak just to touch them.

It's not coming to practice because you were "too tired".

It's your section leader not coming to practice because he had to "work" and leaving you in the hands of your over eccentric band director.

It's getting a trombone slide caught in your plume during a competition.( There really was a girl in my marching band that had that happen)

It's the bittersweet end of marching band season when you just want to cry cause the seniors won't be there next year.

It's getting the award for "Best recovery after getting hit by a sousaphone during competition".

It's marching band.


	3. Chapter 3

**I have just finished my second year of marching band, and decided I should write some more things about marching band. All of you guys have probably experienced at least one thing on this list so you can relate. Enjoy!!**

_Marching Band_

It's reading your drill chart and going to your set only to realize that you are the only one in the middle of the field.

It's realizing that you read the wrong set and that you aren't supposed to be in the middle of the field but sad because that would've been so cool.

It's not having a girls bus and a boys bus to change during competitions but having to change all on one bus. (That is my band for you)

It's having Saturday practices that last for a few hours and being able to wring your shirt out afterwards.

It's going to one competition towards the end of the season and placing 22nd out of 24 bands. Then the next weekend going to another competition and placing 3rd overall out of 28 bands.

It's running into a person from another band and not even knowing who they are, strike up a conversation with him about band and almost miss the bus home.

It's wishing for the football team to go to state just so you can have a conversation with the cute trombone player on the band bus going home from the football games.

It's realizing that the cute trombone player was the same person who got his slide stuck in the girl's plume.

It's the band director saying you will have playing tests over the marching music just to scare you so you don't memorize it all the way and then him making you play it and not the rest of your section.

It's having your section leader get kicked out of band and then having the most irresponsible person become section leader because of age.

It's the band trip to Florida costing as much as band fees.

It's sitting in the bus seat after a competition and making up future marching shows with your friend.

It's having your best show be Band Camp: Cooper Style. (Cooper is our band director)

It's having a hot air balloon fly overhead while the band was practicing and the entire band stopping to watch it.

It's the band director taking 15 minutes to explain how we can not get distracted in the middle of a performance only for 3 planes to fly overhead and him stopping with the whole band to watch them.

It's the trombone player taking your mouthpiece during the football game and him being able to play the entire fight song with it correctly.

It's taking the trombone mouthpiece and trying to use it in your mellophone but not getting the right sound out of it.

It's sectionals with the tubas.

It's getting the National Anthem an hour before you have to play it at the football game.

It's video taping the smallest tuba player stuffing himself in the contra case and only getting half of it cause you're taping it on your cell phone.

It's the tubas calling the contras "cantras"

It's having a sound battle with the trombones for your sectional spot.

It's them winning since there are 7 of them and only 3 of your section.

It's the cute trombone player trying the think of ways to get you to go on the Florida trip.

It's the flutes making special sectional socks that are supposed to be lucky.

It's not being able to go anywhere in the school for peace and quiet because you can hear the drummers that are all the way inside the band room.

It's learning the warm-ups for marimba when you don't even know what notes you're playing.

It's the other band at the football game playing 2/3 of your band's songs and trying to make up new ones on the spot that they don't have.

It's one of the trumpet freshman players shooting Starburst wrappers at you in the stands out of his mouthpiece.

It's turning it into a game to see who can shoot them the farthest.

It's making dates in the band room.

It's having 3 lockers to fit all your instruments in.

It's saying you have rights to cut the sophomore who just joined band this year when you are a freshman but were in it last year too for food.

It's hosting a band competition at your school and having the rival school win.

It's ripping your pants at the same competition that you placed 22nd.

It's having bibbers that are hemmed way too short but doing nothing about it until the end of the season.

It's getting a cool banner that says "State Champions" at the end of the season and putting it in the gym next to the sports teams banners.

It's hating that the season is over so you replay everything over and over again in your mind.

It's marching band!!


End file.
